Three wins from three, you must be really pleased with how the players are doing what you are asking them to?
I am happy with many things in the game and I have to improve with many aspects which is normal
We didn't start well again, we didn't finish well, we played well for a long, long period
in the game. I am pleased with the victory, the points,
with the flair, with the quality, with the goals, with some dynamics that we trained,
even defensively with some principals that we are working.
I am happy with many things, I am happy with the effort, but of course the Premier League
is the Premier League, games are never finished and even
in our best period, where I think everybody ad the feeling that the result could go for
four or five because it was 3-0 and we had so many opportunities
to transition to score more goals. The result is a bit strange, but that is OK, that is
the difficulty of the Premier League, the emotion of the
Premier League. I can say we conceded four goals in three days at home but I prefer to
say we scored seven goals at home in three days, which is fantastic
Must have been happy with Moussa Sissoko's performance?
We have options. Of course I am very happy. Of course the goal is absolutely incredible
but we have other options. I am happy with the way Lucas played in
the previous two matches, I am happy now with Moussa. We have options, we have quality,
it is important for the players to feel that we need everybody,
opportunities arrive for everybody. Today I changed three or four players, maybe in
the next game I will do the same. That is very, very important.
It is a great feeling, it is the best feeling a player can have is at home to have his fans
with him, amazing song, beautiful really. I was singing along, or trying to and it is
fantastic for him. The goal is magnificent for him, the action is the same, even Sonny
not scoring a goal, two assists and the beautiful cross is half of a goal
Do you think you have brought the season to life again as you're now only six points behind Chelsea? Also Dele Alli has come to life again?
When I arrived we were 12 points behind the last Champions League position and I didn't
want to think about it, I just wanted to play matches.
I think we were eight or nine from a Europa League position and I said if we thought about
it too much we would be depressed because we want to play
European football next season. So, don't get depressed, play game after game and see what
is going to happen. Now the distance is smaller, we won two matches,
we are going into a period with lots of matches, the Christmas period is match, match, match,
match. So you have the chance of both. You have the chance to
break down, we have the chance to put pressure on the opponent. We play Chelsea at the end
of December, if the game was tomorrow, we would play them with
six points difference, it would be a fantastic situation to play them, but we play them in
the end of December. We have to keep close, as close as possible.
But we have a lot to work and a lot to improve
What did you make of Dele Alli today?
Dele, I don't need to speak about. The best thing that can happen to a coach is when you
don't need to speak about a player because everybody speaks, all of you,
fans, everybody speaks about him and speaks about him for the right reasons. He's playing
really, really, really well. I couldn't ask for any more from him.
He's playing amazing, scoring goals, assisting, working, fantastic.
There was some criticism of Dele's attitude before you took over, how have you found him?
I didn't know him. I only played against him a few times. No contact with him. I don't
know the boy, I don't know much. I just know the qualities of the players
and that was the direction where I went. A player of such quality it's not possible that
he's not performing at a high level, ok sometimes players are not in the
best performance level but normally with a little bit of up and down you have to perform
according to your potential. I find him a good guy in the group. He's a
group guy, not really this kind of selfish person who thinks and speaks only about himself.
Not at all. He's a Spurs boy, a group boy. The group is a good family. They
have very good empathy in between them. I just feel that now it's self esteem coming
up and lots of confidence to play
Is there something in particular that you've been able to unlock with Dele, it's noticeable
that both his goals were direct, is it about getting him into those areas quicker?
With teams that want to play and try to press you up, if you don't explore space behind
it's very difficult. With teams that play low blocks it's easy to play from
the back and in between the lines and in the pockets. It depends. We knew Bournemouth is
quite an aggressive team, aggressive in the right way of the word.
They bring the lines up. They are not a very tall team, even the centre-backs, so they
don't like to play a low block. I think Eddie [Howe] does well to bring the line up.
You have to explore these positions which we did and we did more and we had more chances
to score goals. That's why a little bit of frustration with this 3-2 result
because I felt at 3-0 that the game was going in exactly the opposite direction
Does the simpler style suit Dele though?
It's not a simple style. It's just the position and the principles of play. Every manager
has his own ideas and we're all different. Nobody is right and nobody is wrong,
but for me, Dele is not a midfield player. For me Dele is not a player to play positionally
in midfield, he is a player to be like he is playing, close to Harry [Kane],
following some dynamics that we train but a little bit of freedom to associate with
attacking players. This I think is the best position for him
Thank you